Local Flavour to Google News

September 29, 2008

By Siti Syameen Md Khalili

GOOGLE Inc has launched Google News in Malaysia, a comprehensive search service for local Internet users to access the latest updates from over 4,500 English language sources, including Malaysian media outlets.

Available at http://news.google.com.my, the new service aims to provide diversity and breadth in news reporting, said Google Inc’s product manager for Google News, Rahul Roy-Chowdhury.

According to him, sections include Top Stories, Malaysia, World, Business, Science/ Technology and Sports, which are refreshed every few minutes. Users can scan headlines and brief snippets of stories, then click on the headline to be taken directly to the news publisher’s Web site.

“Our aim is to help users find the stories they’re looking for as quickly as possible. Google News allows users to easily check the most recent headlines from publishers around the world and then read those stories on the publisher’s site.

“By making it easier for users to search for news, we help people find more of the content created by publishers. These include stories from publishers that readers already know and love, as well as stories from sources they may never have known existed.

“Readers get more stories and publishers get more readers on their site,” Roy-Chowdhury added.